Renault Megane Renaultsport Review

Renault Megane Review

There’s Renault and then there is Renaultsport, the specialist unit of the company that takes two, already hot hatches, to new levels of performance.

Years of experience in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) allowed the Clio Cup to become the first Clio Renaultsport and it just keeps getting better.

The Megane has also benefited from the Renaultsport sparkle-dust, in the form of the Renaultsport 225 Cup and the test car, the Megane Renaultsport 230 F1Team R26. A very long name but the nomenclature is quite simple when it is broken down. The first part of the name is obvious; 230 is the amount of PS that the engine produces, F1 Team advertises some of the on-board technologies that have been handed down from the F1 racing strategies. Finally, R26 was the designation of the F1 car that was being raced to the top of the World Championship standings when the 230 Megane was launched. It’s a bit of a mouthful, so we’ll call it the R26.

By way of clarification, the Renaultsport Meganes shouldn’t be confused with the regular Megane Sport Hatch, Saloon or Tourer. That said, the names of the Renaultsport versions do tend to indicate the difference; 225 Cup and Lux and the test car, and just to prove that diesel really has ‘arrived’, there are also a dCi175 and Lux models.

The 225 Cup forms the basis of the R26, which is clearly aimed at track-day enthusiasts and people with a passion for performance. It is said to be the most potent and driver-focused Megane on the road - I’m not about to argue with the claim.